On 24 June 2026, two earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude struck northern Venezuela, causing one of the country’s most serious disasters in recent decades. According to official figures, 6,509 people were killed and 60,785 affected homes were assessed, of which 11,001 were classified as high risk.
“Three months after these events, there remains a debt to those affected that must be addressed by placing their human rights and dignity at the centre of the recovery,” said Ana Piquer, Amnesty International’s Americas Director.
“Three months after these events, there remains a debt to those affected that must be addressed by placing their human rights and dignity at the centre of the recovery.”
Ana Piquer, Amnesty International’s Americas Director.
Amnesty International interviewed 21 people directly affected in Caracas and La Guaira between 23 July and 14 August 2026. Those interviewed said that the Venezuelan authorities’ response was delayed and poorly coordinated. Family members and neighbours removed rubble with their bare hands or improvised tools while requesting heavy machinery, specialized personnel and search dogs. They also reported that, although there was a large deployment of police, military and intelligence personnel, their activities focused on surveillance and territorial control rather than directly participating in rescue operations or efforts to locate missing people.
In northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is expanding our response to the Ebola disease outbreak, as it spreads from the remote town of Nia Nia, in Ituri province, to Kisangani, the busy capital of neighbouring Tshopo province.
In Kisangani, MSF has been running the Ebola treatment centre (ETC) at Hôpital du Cinquantenaire, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, since the end of June. In the first week of September, patients were transferred to a new 22-bed ETC, built and run by MSF, increasing treatment capacity in Kisangani.
In Nia Nia, MSF teams started working alongside the Ministry of Health at the ETC in the local hospital in early August. This week, MSF opened a new 50-bed ETC next to the hospital, further expanding access to Ebola care in the area.
The newly completed Ebola treatment centre in Kisangani, Tshopo province, two days before it received its first patients. Democratic Republic of Congo, 5 September 2026.Belen Filgueira/MSF
The two locations are closely connected. Nia Nia is situated in an area with significant movement of people and goods between Ituri, Tshopo and Haut-Uele provinces. Since the first cases were reported there, people infected in or linked to Nia Nia have travelled to other areas, including Kisangani. Thirteen of the 14 positive cases recorded in Kisangani as of 1 September had an epidemiological link to Nia Nia.
Responding where the outbreak is spreading
Nia Nia has become a major focus of the outbreak in southern Ituri. The town recorded its first cases at the end of June, but the response has faced significant challenges, including limited access to healthcare, gaps in infection prevention and control, and fear and misinformation within the community.
MSF teams began working in Nia Nia in early August. As of 1 September, the Nia Nia ETC had admitted 85 people with symptoms matching Ebola. Of these, 59 were confirmed Ebola cases, including 15 patients who died. MSF opened a 50-bed ETC next to the existing facility, with 16 beds for suspected cases and 34 for confirmed cases, this week. The new centre is designed to provide safer and more effective care, with the protocols and bio-safety measures needed to treat patients with Ebola.
“In an Ebola treatment centre, what we can do is care for the individual patient, but epidemics are stopped in the community,” says Miriam Alia, MSF medical coordinator.
When fear prevents people from seeking care
During the first weeks of the outbreak in Nia Nia, fewer patients were reaching the ETC than the number of confirmed deaths reported in the community. Many people remained at home rather than seeking care.
There are now signs of change. More people are reaching the treatment centre alive, giving them the opportunity to receive early, supportive treatment.
“Three weeks ago, we started receiving patients rather than only alerts about deaths in the community,” says Alia. “This is a major change because it means people are coming to the ETC earlier, when they develop symptoms.”
From the beginning, the response in Nia Nia has faced strong resistance, with rumours and misinformation fuelling fear. These have included claims that Ebola did not exist or that medical staff were bringing the disease into communities. Health workers were threatened, and an earlier treatment centre in the region was attacked and destroyed on 30 June.
“I didn’t believe that Ebola existed,” says Maurice, a recovered Ebola patient who was treated by MSF in Kisangani. “But when I was tested and found out that I had Ebola, that’s when I understood that it exists. But people still say that Ebola isn’t real. In my neighbourhood, in people’s homes, that’s what I used to hear.”
MSF teams are working with community leaders, health workers and other local organisations to understand concerns, address misinformation, and build acceptance of the response.
“During Ebola outbreaks, we used to talk about two epidemics: the epidemic itself, and the epidemic of fear,” says Alia. “Now we have a third one: the epidemic of misinformation.”
From Nia-Nia to Kisangani
The link between Nia Nia and Kisangani shows why containing the outbreak in hard-to-reach areas is critical.
“In the past month, two other people were infected in Kisangani after coming into contact with a body that had arrived from Nia Nia,” says Amy Low, MSF project medical adviser in Kisangani.
Also in the past week, three patients with an epidemiological link to Nia Nia died at the MSF-supported ETC in Kisangani.
MSF is expanding our capacity in both locations. But treatment centres alone cannot stop Ebola. Surveillance, testing, contact tracing, infection prevention and control, early isolation, treatment and community engagement all need to work together to reduce transmission and ensure that communities, such as Nia Nia, are not left behind.
One year after the publication of the report “It was the military. I Saw Them“, which documented the enforced disappearance of 10 people from the Ecuadorian coast, including six minors, in the context of President Daniel Noboa’s so-called Phoenix Plan, there have been some important developments. Nevertheless, the lack of cooperation by the Armed Forces in criminal investigations and the deepening of the policy of militarization of the public security continue to be the main obstacles preventing all victims’ families from obtaining truth, justice, and reparation, and from ensuring the non-repetition of these crimes, Amnesty International stated today.
“The progress achieved over the past year demonstrates that it is possible to respond to the demands for truth and justice made by the families, civil society, and international mechanisms. Yet this progress remains insufficient as long as many of those families continue not knowing what happened to their loved ones and the military authorities continue to withhold essential information for the investigations,” said Ana Piquer, Regional Director for the Americas of Amnesty International.
The progress achieved over the past year demonstrates that it is possible to respond to the demands for truth and justice made by the families, civil society, and international mechanisms.”
Ana Piquer, Regional Director for the Americas of Amnesty International.
In December 2025, a court of first instance convicted 16 military personnel for the enforced disappearance of four boys from the Las Malvinas neighborhood, in the south of the city of Guayaquil. In February 2026, the Constitutional Court issued a landmark ruling requiring the Air Force commander to issue a public apology to the boys’ families in an event that was broadcast live. In turn, in May 2026, a judge confirmed that Dave Loor and Juan Santillán had been victims of enforced disappearance, as part of the ruling on a habeas corpus petition filed by their families, which had been appealed by the Armed Forces.
Between January and August 2026, following precautionary measures issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in favor of 26 disappeared persons and six women searching for their loved ones, the Office of the Attorney General established working groups in the provinces of Guayas and Los Ríos, where the highest number of enforced disappearances in the country are concentrated. The purpose of these working groups is to facilitate dialogue between various authorities and the victims’ families, in order to expedite the search for the disappeared people and the criminal investigations. The advocacy efforts of the victims’ families, the support of the local organization Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDH Guayaquil), and international mobilization have been key to achieving all these advances.
Despite this progress, the whereabouts of the vast majority of victims of enforced disappearance remain unknown, and their families continue to await answers. The main obstacle continues to be the lack of cooperation by the Ministry of Defense with the criminal investigations being conducted by the Office of the Attorney General. In particular, the Ministry has refused to share information regarding the security operations after which the victims disappeared, claiming that such information is confidential.
The CDH Guayaquil filed an appeal before the Constitutional Court in September requesting the declassification of the information. Amnesty International supports this initiative and recalls that the classification of information related to human rights violations is contrary to the obligations under international law assumed by Ecuador and to international standards, as it violates the right of victims and their families to know the truth.
For their part, families constantly face challenges in having their rights respected and have suffered further violations. Several have reported harassment and acts of intimidation by the Armed Forces. This is despite the fact that most of them are part of the Office of the Attorney General’s victim and witness protection system.
In addition, during 2026, Ecuador deepened its military and security cooperation with the United States in efforts to combat drug trafficking. This has led to new allegations of possible serious human rights violations and crimes under international law in joint operations and in operations allegedly led by U.S. authorities. Amnesty International documented an attack on an Ecuadorian vessel in this context, in which the whereabouts of its crew members remain unknown.
“The State must guarantee truth, justice, and reparation for all victims and their families, and reverse a militarized security strategy that has proven ineffective in reducing crime rates and has been accompanied by serious human rights violations. Only through full respect for people’s rights can a safer Ecuador be built,” said Ana Piquer.
The State must guarantee truth, justice, and reparation for all victims and their families, and reverse a militarized security strategy that has proven ineffective in reducing crime rates and has been accompanied by serious human rights violations.”
Ana Piquer, Regional Director for the Americas of Amnesty International.
Amnesty International reiterates its call on the Ecuadorian authorities to guarantee access to truth, justice, and reparation for all families affected by enforced disappearances, recalling that this is a crime under international law. The organization also reiterates its call to reverse the militarized approach to public security. This approach has not been effective in reducing violence in the country and, on the contrary, has facilitated the commission of serious crimes under international law and human rights violations.
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact [email protected]
“Ahead of these long-awaited and historic elections, South Sudanese authorities must ensure that a conducive environment exists for people to vote and stand in elections, including respect for and enjoyment of human rights, and freedom from discrimination and arbitrary or unnecessary and disproportionate restrictions.
“The legitimacy of any election depends not only on whether it is held, but on whether people can exercise their rights freely, safely and equally. For years, Amnesty International and other organizations have documented the repressive tactics deployed by the South Sudanese authorities to silence dissent, detain critics, and restrict freedom of expression and the right to protest.
Ahead of these long-awaited and historic elections, South Sudanese authorities must ensure that a conducive environment exists for people to vote and stand in elections, including respect for and enjoyment of human rights, and freedom from discrimination and arbitrary or unnecessary and disproportionate restrictions.
Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa
“At this pivotal moment, we call on the South Sudanese authorities to immediately guarantee the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly; end the intimidation of journalists, civil society actors and political opponents; and create conditions that enable all South Sudanese to participate in public affairs freely and without fear.”
Background
On 21 September, President Salva Kiir Mayardit signed into lawThe National Elections Act, 2012 (Amendment) Bill, 2026, allowing him to remain in office with full constitutional powers throughout the electoral period and authorizing him to dissolve the transitional government.
In August, the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudanwarned that elections conducted without adequate safeguards could fuel renewed conflict and increase the risk of serious human rights violations and atrocity crimes.
In July, amid concerns about procedures, legality and legitimacy, President Salva Kiir Mayardit signed into law amendments to the 2018 peace agreement removing critical electoral preconditions including a national population and housing census and the adoption of a permanent constitution, deferring both processes until after elections.
Ahead of the opening matches of the 2026/27 men’s UEFA Nations League group phase where Austria, Ireland and Kosovo will play against Israel during the 24 September – 6 October international window, Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for Europe said:
“It’s unconscionable that the Israel men’s football team will participate in the UEFA Nations League this autumn despite clear evidence that Israel’s football association continues to support illegal settlements.
“Instead of sending a clear message that there is a cost for Israel’s unlawful occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and its atrocity crimes against Palestinians, UEFA is giving Israel an international stage as it maintains its brutal occupation of the OPT, its system of apartheid over all Palestinians, and its ongoing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“UEFA and FIFA should have suspended the Israel Football Association (IFA) long ago, for its refusal to exclude clubs based in illegal settlements in the OPT. Their continued participation in the Israeli leagues is in brazen violation of FIFA’s statutes and is contrary to international law. As the money keeps flowing from FIFA and UEFA to the IFA, they risk contributing to the sustainability of illegal settlements and of Israel’s unlawful occupation of the OPT, and therefore Israel’s violations of Palestinians’ human rights.
“Decisions and opinions by international courts, and resolutions by the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council, over the last decades, have repeatedly condemned Israel for its multiple and egregious violations.
“Sport should never be used as a public relations spectacle for states committing atrocities.
As the Israel team travels to Europe, Palestinian families are being displaced and dispossessed, their land stolen, their olive trees uprooted and their histories erased by settlers with the support of the Israeli military. The beautiful game should bring people together, not rubber-stamp apartheid.
Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for Europe
“As political leaders and sporting authorities choose to stay on the sidelines, fuelling Israel’s impunity, fans are stepping onto the pitch to demand accountability, justice and fair play. When rules are broken, when occupation, apartheid and genocide are ongoing, we cannot look the other way.”
Background
The Israel men’s football team will participate in the forthcoming group phase matches for the fifth edition of UEFA Nations League. The group phase matches will take place across two sets of matches, the first four between 24 September to 6 October and another two matches between 12 and 17 November 2026. Israel is part of League B in this grouping, together with Austria, Ireland and Kosovo.
There is strong public opposition to Israel’s participation in football competitions in Ireland under the umbrella of the ‘Stop the Game’ campaign. Several football associations, players, activists, trade unions, artists and politicians have called for sanctions, boycott or the suspension of the forthcoming matches between Ireland and Israel scheduled for 27 September and 4 October.
The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) formally submitted a request to UEFA to consider suspending Israel from UEFA competitions. UEFA has nevertheless approved the Nations League fixtures and the use of “neutral venues” where necessary, in countries other than Israel and Ireland. The games between Ireland and Israel are scheduled to take place in “neutral venues” in Hungary and Serbia, behind closed doors with no fans allowed in the stadiums.
In October 2025, Amnesty International wrote to FIFA and UEFA calling for the suspension of the IFA unless clubs from illegal settlements in OPT were immediately excluded from participating in domestic Israeli leagues.
In March 2026, FIFA announced that no action will be taken against IFA over the participation of clubs based in illegal settlements in Israel’s leagues. With this position FIFA is indirectly legitimizing, and risks contributing to, Israel’s unlawful occupation and its severe human rights violations against Palestinians, including the crime against humanity of apartheid, while also ignoring the International Court of Justice’s 2024 Advisory Opinion.
Prompted by FIFA’s decision to reject their complaints regarding Israeli settlement clubs, the Palestinian Football Association has submitted a case to the Court of Arbitration of Sport.
Amnesty International’s recent report, Erasing anything Palestinian: Israel’s ethnic cleansing of West Bank, exposes how the current Israeli Government has made formal annexation under Israeli law of Palestinian land in the unlawfully occupied Palestinian territory an explicit state policy, whose implementation has been turbocharged, including through state-backed settler violence.
Jakarta, September 22, 2026. About 40 million people across Kalimantan and Sumatra have been forced to breathe hazardous, suffocating haze caused by forest and peatland fires for two months. Yet the Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka administration has shown no serious commitment to addressing the haze’s impact on public health, even ignoring calls to declare it a national disaster.
In various occasions, President Prabowo and his officials have focused solely on extinguishing fires and enforcing criminal and administrative laws, without addressing how to alleviate the burden on communities affected by the haze. This is neglecting the fact that the haze has violated citizens’ rights to clean, healthy air, exposed residents to upper respiratory tract infections (ISPA), and disrupted daily activities, including schooling.
“Beyond failing to mitigate forest and peatland fires that are both predictable and preventable, the Prabowo-Gibran administration has also failed to protect the public from the long-term effects of the cloying, hazardous haze. This failure once again exposes residents, particularly vulnerable groups such as children, pregnant women, and the elderly, to various health risks,” said Belgis Habiba, Greenpeace Indonesia’s forest campaigner. Greenpeace team has heard testimony from parents whose children are suffering from coughing, dizziness, and gastroenteritis, despite spending their time indoors.
Haze from the peatland fires definitely worsens air quality in the affected areas and their surroundings. In Pontianak, PM2.5 pollution levels repeatedly exceeded 250.5 micrograms/m³—a trend that has persisted since August 27. This pollution level is categorized as hazardous.
An analysis by Greenpeace Indonesia also found 5,540 haze-source spots between August 8 and September 20, spread across 22 provinces. The number of these spots increased by about 2,000 over the last three weeks, expanding the affected areas beyond the initial seven provinces. Central Kalimantan recorded the highest number of haze source spots (1,477), followed by South Papua (1,243), West Kalimantan (1,209), and South Sumatra (619).
Transboundary haze has also reached neighboring countries, from Malaysia, Singapore, to Brunei Darussalam, as well as the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi recently met with President Prabowo to offer assistance in managing these peatland fires.
In fact, ASEAN has adopted the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (AATHP)–a pact designed to prevent, monitor, and mitigate the forest and land fires that trigger such haze, since two decades ago. But this year’s recurrence of transboundary haze once again highlights the limits of ASEAN’s role, given its preference for consultation, negotiation, and non-interference approaches.
“From one point of view, the offer of assistance to tackle the fires can be interpreted as a subtle form of protest from Malaysia against the transboundary haze. On the other hand, it is actually time for ASEAN leaders to take a firmer stance in ensuring mutual accountability, so it can fulfill the rights to clean and healthy air for Southeast Asian people,” said Fajri Fadhillah, Political and Legal Campaigner at Greenpeace Southeast Asia.
President Prabowo and his administration also failed to address the peatland degradation as the root cause of the fires and haze. Historically, massive fires in 1997-1998 followed the conversion of Kalimantan peatlands for a mega rice project during the New Order, when Prabowo’s father-in-law, Soeharto, was in office. Since then, peatland fires have become a recurring incident.
Greenpeace analysis found 2,951 haze-source spots across the peatland landscape as of September 20. Natural peat landscapes are characteristically wet, yet permits for plantation concessions, from pulpwood to palm oil, have allowed companies to clear and drain them. The analysis detected 859 haze-source spots inside 115 forest utilization concessions, and 774 haze-source spots within 210 palm oil concessions. Moreover, the analysis detected about 2,000 haze-source spots inside the forest production zone, and hundreds of spots within the conservation area.
Sapta Ananda Proklamasi, Greenpeace Indonesia’s senior researcher, said that law enforcement regarding peatland fires rarely targets corporate actors. Consequently, it has little to no deterrent effect on the companies whose concessions were burned, even repeatedly. Efforts to seek justice for the haze also often face an arduous path.
For instance, Sapta explained, South Sumatra residents in August 2024 sued three pulpwood companies over smoke haze caused by peatland fires in their concessions. The court dismissed the lawsuit, and the plaintiffs are awaiting the cassation decision. “President Prabowo has repeatedly mentioned law enforcement against companies, but he must also be aware of the fact that justice has yet to side with the haze victims,” Sapta said.
Belgis Habiba added, “The destruction of forests and peatlands has exacted a heavy toll: biodiversity loss, carbon emissions that exacerbate the climate crisis, and the deprivation of rights to clean, healthy air. The government must stop the rhetoric; it has to immediately attend to haze victims–ensuring they have rapid, free access to healthcare and medical treatment–and tackle the root causes of forest and peatland fires. Revoke the permits of companies whose concessions repeatedly burned and ensure peatland restoration. Otherwise, people will continue to suffer because the government fails to grasp the root cause of the haze.” [END]
Editor’s Note:
[1] A report by Greenpeace Indonesia and Greenpeace Malaysia titled “The ASEAN Haze Trauma” details the impacts of recurring haze experienced by communities across the region.
[2] The three companies sued by the South Sumatra residents are PT Bumi Mekar Hijau, PT Bumi Andalas Permai, and PT Sebangun Bumi Andalas (SBA) Wood Industries. All three are timber suppliers to the Sinar Mas Group. The Palembang District Court rejected the residents’ lawsuit. The plaintiffs are currently awaiting the outcome of their cassation appeal at the Supreme Court.
On 13 September, I woke in southwest Türkiye to news of a large-scale operation targeting LGBTI organizations and human rights defenders across the country. Since then, police have arrested at least 116 people across 15 provinces following raids on homes, venues and the offices of LGBTI rights organizations. At least 83 people have been placed in pretrial detention and criminal investigations have been launched against more than 160 people. LGBTI rights organisations have reported allegations of intrusive strip searches, insults and humiliation as well as HRDs being held in isolation in violation of their rights. Hundreds of social media accounts belonging to LGBTI organizations and activists, journalists, media outlets and others have so far been blocked or restricted alongside a number of websites. Those affected include Amnesty International Türkiye’s X account.
As protest within Türkiye builds and international condemnation mounts, it is clear that the Turkish authorities have every intention of intensifying the crackdown
Milena Buyum, Amnesty International
The authorities have named this operation “Ailem Güvende” (“My Family Is Safe”) under the spurious guise of ‘protecting the family’. Yet as LGBTI activists and many others rightly point out, families in Türkiye are suffering poverty, insecurity and increased repression of their civil and political rights, while violence against women and girls is rife, including inside their homes. Far from protecting anyone, this sweeping crackdown has nothing to do with protecting families and everything to do with further harming and stigmatizing people who have battled decades of discrimination and intimidation.
As protest within Türkiye builds and international condemnation mounts, it is clear that the Turkish authorities have every intention of intensifying the crackdown. The Ministry of Justice has sent a circular to 175 chief public prosecutors in all of Türkiye’s 81 provinces, regarding content and activities deemed in their view contrary to “public morality” and harmful to families, children and young people. It instructs prosecutors to promptly assess complaints and reports, take immediate investigative steps, preserve digital evidence and, where necessary, seek the removal or blocking of online content on the vague grounds of ‘obscenity’.
Police reportedly used pepper spray against peaceful protesters in İzmir and more than 100 people were reportedly detained when they peacefully gathered outside the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan. With countrywide protests expected in the coming days and weeks, there are fears of more arrests to come.
The crackdown is part of a wider ongoing attack on the rights of LGBTI people and those who advocate for LGBTI rights. Pride marches including Istanbul Pride have been banned since 2015. In the last two years, proposals to introduce penalties to criminalize expressions of LGBTI identities or consensual same-sex sexual activity have been repeatedly leaked into the public domain. They were withdrawn after huge public uproar and resistance from civil society. While these government efforts to legislate failed, ‘My Family is Safe’ is a further attempt to exclude LGBTI people.
July marked the tenth anniversary of the failed coup attempt that ushered in state of emergency provisions which were in place for two years. These provisions morphed into a raft of repressive legislation targeting civil society, with the independence of the judiciary hollowed out, domestic courts weaponized, international courts ignored, and treaties and standards trampled on. Over the last decade, Türkiye has been subjected to an ongoing authoritarian bonfire of rights which has impacted every aspect of Turkish society, silencing dissent, stoking divisions, and spreading fear.
Whilst thousands of people in Türkiye have been impacted by baseless prosecutions and convictions, there have been several emblematic cases. Prisoner of conscience Osman Kavala, who remains in prison despite two binding European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgments (in 2019 and 2026) ordering his release and infringement proceedings against Türkiye initiated by the Council of Europe in 2022. Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, former leaders of the People’s Democratic Party, also remain in prison despite ECtHR rulings ordering their immediate release. Taner Kılıç, Amnesty Turkey’s Honorary Chair, was tried alongside İdil Eser, the organization’s former Turkey director and nine other human rights defenders, known as the Istanbul 10, on baseless allegations of “membership of a terrorist organisation”. They were all eventually acquitted, with Taner Kılıç’s acquittal coming almost eight years after his imprisonment for over 14 months in 2017.
The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, association and expression have come under sustained attack with arbitrary restrictions and blanket bans. Peaceful protesters have been subjected to police violence and allegedly tortured in police custody.
Women’s Day marches have also faced bans at a time when the rights of women and girls are facing serious erosion. In 2021, Türkiye withdrew from the Istanbul Convention, the landmark treaty on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. In so doing, Türkiye not only became the first Council of Europe member to withdraw from an international human rights convention but removed key protections in a country where gender-based violence remains widespread.
It is time to stand together against the repression of LGBTI people in Türkiye
Milena Buyum, Amnesty International
Ten years after the failed coup attempt, the distance that Türkiye has travelled along the authoritarian path is starkly clear, but this trajectory is still reversable. The targeting of LGBTI communities must end immediately and Turkish authorities must ensure the immediate release of all those detained solely for their human rights work. LGBTI defenders and associations must be allowed to operate and carry out their vital work without discrimination, criminalization, intimidation or reprisals.
On Friday, people took to the streets in more than 50 cities around the world to demand an end to the crackdown. It is time to stand together against the repression of LGBTI people in Türkiye, to raise our voices and to make our solidarity even more visible. Leaders around the world must publicly condemn the crackdown, raise concerns with the highest level of the Turkish government, and provide support to LGBTI organisations and defenders. We must all demand a reversal in this deepening human rights crisis.
Milena Buyum is Senior Campaigner on Europe for Amnesty International
Jakarta, 21 September 2026. The Jayapura State Administrative Court (PTUN Jayapura) announced its decision on September 18 to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the environmental permit for the 135-kilometer road development in Merauke, West Papua. The lawsuit was filed by five Indigenous Malind People in Tanah Papua—Simon Petrus Balagaize, Sinta Gebze, Liborius Kodai Moiwend, Kanisius Dagil, and Andreas Mahuze.
Simon Petrus Balagaize has expressed deep disappointment over the verdict, saying that no law guaranteed Indigenous rights. “Neither with a lawsuit nor with facts on the ground, the law is not on our side.”
Tigor Hutapea of Pusaka Bentala Rakyat, also a member of the advocacy team, said, “It is a poor and unfair decision. The judges didn’t take into consideration any evidence, along with witnesses and experts presented from our side, that conveyed solid proof that the road development has caused numerous violations of Indigenous rights. The plaintiffs have chosen a difficult path by going to court, yet they got only unfairness.”
The five Indigenous Malind People filed the lawsuit in March 2026 to challenge an environmental permit issued by the Merauke Regent for the 135km roadway construction in the regency. The Indonesian government is building the roadway to support its controversial food and energy projects in southern Papua, where 2.7 million hectares of land and forest are targeted for conversion into rice paddy fields, sugarcane, and palm oil. This is the biggest planned deforestation in the world with an unprecedented scale of military involvement.
Greenpeace Indonesia holds a theatrical action to protest the National Strategic Project (PSN) of Sugarcane Merauke in front of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs office in Jakarta. Greenpeace condemns the massive deforestation that has occurred in Merauke, caused by this sugarcane project; at least 560,000 hectares of forest have been destroyed in Merauke, South Papua.
Although the environmental permit was issued in September 2025, land clearing and roadway construction began in August 2024. According to the plaintiffs and the advocacy team, no free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) process was conducted. Some clans from the Malind Indigenous People expressed their disagreement through protests, such as by setting up blockades or erecting red crosses, but they were ignored.
Despite all the evidence, the judges decided that the permit issuance was lawful and included public consultation.
Asep Komarudin, a member of the advocacy team from Greenpeace Indonesia, said, “The judges’ reasoning in this ruling fails to address substantive issues raised by the witnesses that we presented. Their considerations did not adequately address testimonies about the road construction process, impacts on Indigenous communities and the environment, and other issues. The ruling appears merely to reiterate administrative evidence—deeming it sufficient—without directly examining the actual situation on the ground.”
In Merauke, the roadway construction continues despite being challenged in court. In fact, on June 9, the presiding judge, Merna Chintia, ordered the defendant to halt the construction. However, satellite imagery analysis found that the road network now spans 135 km.
The roadway development has directly affected the Malind Indigenous group. It has destroyed their customary forest, depriving them of their source of livelihood. Environmental impacts have emerged, such as rising temperatures, dusty air, and declining water quality. Moreover, the Indigenous community members have also experienced various intimidation from the military.
Despite being disappointed by the court ruling, Simon Balagaize said that the fight is not over. “We will continue to fight for and defend our customary lands. We believe that the truth will be on our side: the Papuan. This lawsuit is not the only way; there are thousands of other ways.” [END]
Media Contact:
Budiarti Putri, Greenpeace Indonesia, [email protected], +62 811-1463-105
SYDNEY, Tuesday 22 September 2026 — In response to Prime Minister Albanese’skeynote address at New York Climate Week,Dr Simon Bradshaw, COP31 Lead and climate expert at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said:
“It is encouraging to see Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledging the immediate and profound climate threat to communities in the Pacific, Australia and worldwide, and the need to work together, with bravery and compassion. Now we must match those words with real action to phase out fossil fuels.
“Earlier this month in Palau, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese committed Australia to helping accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels and defend the crucial goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C — a survival line for Pacific island countries and all those paying the cost of our fossil fuel addiction through worsening floods, fires, drought and sea level rise.
“However, Australia continues to undermine its aspirations for global climate leadership by expanding fossil fuel production. The Albanese Government has approved an astonishing 37 new, extended or expanded coal and gas projects since first elected. Every one of which compounds the threats to our shared security and wellbeing. Remarkably, in his major climate speech in New York overnight, the Prime Minister failed to even mention fossil fuels.
“As our Minister for Climate Change Chris Bowen has said, we are in a global fossil fuel crisis. Getting off fossil fuels through transitioning to renewable energy is the quickest pathway to greater security, stability and affordability for all. But right now Australia is throwing more fuel on the fire.
“We are now near certain to overshoot 1.5°C of warming. For the Pacific and Australia alike, this will be measured in more communities torn from their land and homes, and the loss of more people and places we love. There is a path back below 1.5°C of warming, and every fraction of a degree matters, but it will demand all minds and all hearts working together.
Australia fought hard for the privilege to chair the next round of global climate negotiations. The world is crying out for a clear vision and leadership from Australia as we head towards COP31 in Antalya.
“Australia must lead by example at home through an immediate end to new fossil fuel approvals, including rejecting Woodside’s mammoth Browse project. And must ensure that COP31 boosts our shared security by accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels. Get this right, and Australia will emerge as a responsible middle power and force for good in troubled times.”
Ahead of the event ‘Digital@UNGA 2026’ and other AI-focused meetings at the UNGA81, Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar said:
“As high-level meetings focused on AI kick off at the UN, a handful of AI players continue to amass power, wealth and influence, even as many are warning that they need guardrails and regulation because they cannot – or will not – do it themselves. We must take warnings from AI leaders and whistleblowers seriously, and the UN must play a central role in deciding a collective way forward as AI’s influence and impact grows every day, with the most marginalized being left behind and paying the price.
“Right now, a tiny number of companies and countries control almost all of the data, infrastructure, and expertise that underpin AI. We’re already seeing a widening inequality gap in terms of who has control, who has access, who benefits, and who is forced to live with the deafening drone of AI data centers in their communities.
“We must open the conversation at the UN to ensure civil society, workers, and affected communities and countries of all sizes and influence have seats at the table – not just the powerful few governments and AI leaders who so far have dominated the debate. We must insist it is a conversation that we all can understand and contribute to because the stakes could not be higher for each of us and humanity as a whole.
“Oxfam is calling for governance that is effective, enforceable and upholds our individual & collective human rights. We must see more than conversations – we need actions taken that confront the unequal power the AI industry holds and address the current and potential harms to each of us.
“We know AI holds tremendous potential to help solve some of our most existential collective challenges if it is designed, deployed and controlled responsibly. However, without regulation and accountability, it will only make the current crises of widening inequality, multiplying extreme climate events, and erosion of human rights even more stark. We have no time to waste. AI is advancing exponentially, and we must take collective action before we are too late.”
Oxfam is also co-hosting an “IIDEAS Summit” on September 24 with Amano, and other partners – an event focused on Artificial Intelligence for Human Progress, Nature and Resilient Systems, Health Systems for the Next Generation, and Financing the Future (Invitation-only).
Oxfam’s position on AI (particularly in the context of the UN) is:
AI needs effective, enforceable, rights-based governance – not reliance on voluntary corporate commitments. Regulation should cover the full AI lifecycle and require transparency, accountability, human oversight, human-rights due diligence and human-rights impact assessment, as well as meaningful redress & remedy where harms occur. Governance must address AI’s effects on inequality, work, civic participation, mis/dis-information and the environment, in addition to the technical safety concerns currently making headlines.
AI governance must confront unequal power, not just individual harms. A tiny number of companies and countries control almost all of the data, infrastructure, frontier models and expertise that underpin AI. Oxfam supports any measure that constrains monopoly power, promotes open & interoperable systems and digital public goods, expands AI capacity in Global South countries, ensures that AI’s benefits and decision-making power are distributed, and ensures the externalities & harms are not simply borne by the most vulnerable/least powerful.
People affected by AI must have meaningful agency in governing it. Decisions about whether, where and how AI systems are developed and deployed should not be determined solely by powerful technology companies or powerful states. Workers, civil society, affected communities and countries of the Global South need meaningful participation, with particular focus on the dimensions of intersectional inequality that AI has the potential to exacerbate.
The UN has an important convening and norm-setting role because AI is inherently a global issue. The corporate and geopolitical AI “arms race” is such that zero incentives are in place for corporations to act in humanity’s best interest, nor for governments to compel them to do so. Oxfam supports the UN helping build convergence around common human-rights standards, interoperability and accountability; coordinating otherwise fragmented international processes; strengthening AI capacity and creating meaningful space for countries and communities currently excluded from AI governance. The added value is precisely that global AI governance must not be dictated by a handful of powerful governments and technology companies.
Noteon “Latest News Headlines”: the fact that leading AI companies themselves now saying existing safeguards are inadequate simply reinforces the need for robust & enforceable public governance. However,regulation must also address harms already being experienced(surveillance, labor disruption, discrimination, disinformation, deep fakes, environmental impacts and concentrated corporate power)alongside these emerging frontier risks.
Note on “Inevitability” Narrative: a rhetoric of inevitability envelopes AI, but in reality, the AI industry is like a casino right now: there is much more money being paid in than being paid out, and the risks are poorly understood by most of the gamblers. However, what seems unstoppable would quickly grind to a complete halt if the money stopped flowing in. This is why Oxfam is engaging investors and corporations, as well as those who are responsible for creating sane, humane, enforceable and forward-looking public policy.We collectively bear and must collectively mitigate this entire catalogue of risks, from individual to societal to existential.
